Fight it, or lose it

DEMONSTRATION . . . customers of Lees post office make their point

HAVE you done your bit to try to save your local post office?

Today we give post office customers one last chance to join the campaign to save any of the post offices on the Government hit list.

The closing date for objections to the closures is looming.

Our campaign to save the threatened offices has been running since we broke the news of the seven local post offices that were under threat and hundreds of Oldhamers have already signed up.

The offices facing the axe are: Buckstones Road, Shaw; Egerton Street, Brackley Square; Grasscroft; Greenacres Moor, Huddersfield Road; Lees; Lower Rushcroft in Shaw; Ripponden Road in Moorside; and Scouthead.

The elderly would clearly suffer most from the closure of the local post office, not only because they use the office on a regular basis but because many of them are too infirm or disabled to travel any distance either by bus or on foot.

Many people in their 70s and 80s are frightened of a future without the local post office for collecting pensions, paying bills and keeping in touch with their neighbours.

Lees post office, with around 150 supporters, is the one that most local people would like to save. It is described as the hub of the village community and critical to elderly and younger people both for pensions and family allowance.

And a key element is that it is the only post office within reasonable distance where people can renew their car tax.

Supporters of the Egerton Street post office point out that many elderly people in the area do not have bank accounts and need the post office for a variety of purposes from collecting pensions to purchasing heating tickets and recharging smart cards.

There’s a similar story from Lower Rushcroft, too, with people pointing out that they cannot use public transport because of disabilities and that there are a great many people aged 80-plus who could not cope without their local post office where they collect their pension and pay all their bills.

If your post office is under threat and if it means a lot to you to save it, fill in the petition slip on this page and send it to Save Our Post Office, Oldham Chronicle, 172, Union Street, Oldham OL1 1EQ.

Every voice counts.